When CIOs Become CEOs
What the Rise of the CIO Means for the Startup Nation.
I recently sat down with the CIO of a major U.S. health system as part of a rebrand I’m leading for a healthtech company, and one thing he said jumped out at me:
“We’re still operating in an anachronistic paradigm. It was built for – and by – a generation who wanted to go to the clinic. But that model won’t survive the next decade. Right now, [in our industry] CIOs are ascending to CEO ranks, and digital natives are right behind them in VP roles. They’ll soon be able to affect what we do every day.”
We’re witnessing of a changing of the guard, from the people who made tech happen behind the scenes to the ones who will now lead the business. And it has huge implications for B2B and B2B2C marketing, especially for those of us working in global tech epicenters like Israel.
From Strategy Enabler to Strategy Owner
Over 63% of CIOs now report directly to the CEO. That’s a complete reversal from ten years ago, when most answered to CFOs. In more and more organizations, the CIO is the CEO – or soon will be.
That shift changes everything for product teams, marketers, and brand leaders. It means:
- Business strategy is now technology-native by default
- GTM teams are selling into a mindset shaped by engineering, not finance
- The customer experience is no longer downstream from brand. It is the brand
In other words, if you’re building AI infrastructure, developer platforms, patient experience tools, or data orchestration layers, the rise of the CIO-to-CEO pathway demands we shift the narrative from how it works to what it unlocks.
From Startup Nation to Strategy Nation
For Israel, this moment marks more than a leadership shift. It’s an opportunity to lead with strategy, not just invention.
As more CIOs step into CEO roles, the bar for relevance is rising. These are leaders who understand the architecture, know the tradeoffs, and have seen enough vendor pitches to spot the difference between substance and spin. They don’t need hand-holding. But they do need to see how your solution supports their priorities and advances their roadmap.
That’s why the companies that will win in this new era won’t just be the ones with the best technology. They’ll be the ones who can clearly communicate what that technology unlocks. Not just what’s different, but what’s urgent. Not just what’s improved, but what’s now possible.
A great example is Wiz. Their lead narrative – “Disconnected security is worse than no security” – doesn’t just highlight a feature. It reframes the risk. It changes the conversation from product to priority.
This is what a lead narrative does. It creates alignment between what you’ve built and what your buyer needs to believe in order to act. It’s not a slogan. It’s the starting point for strategic trust.
Israeli companies have always been brilliant at building. But the next frontier is translation – turning technical strength into strategic relevance, and turning that relevance into momentum.
This is where CMOs and Brand Strategists become essential as partners in growth. As the ones who connect product to purpose, and purpose to performance. Because in a world led by technologists, the right story isn’t fluff. It’s what gets you in the room and keeps you at the table.